Vulnerable North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre (D) had a slight edge over state Sen. David Rouzer, his Republican opponent, according to a new poll conducted by the Rouzer campaign.

In a matchup among likely voters in the reconfigured 7th district, McIntyre pulled 44 percent to Rouzer’s 40 percent. Fifteen percent were undecided.

Redistricting made the 7th significantly more favorable to Republicans and made McIntyre one of the more vulnerable incumbents in the House.

In a sign of the hill McIntyre will have to climb to keep his seat, Mitt Romney topped Barack Obama by a whopping 17 points in the redrawn district. The president got 36 percent to Romney’s 53 percent in the poll, conducted by respected GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies.

Eighty-one percent of those polled disapprove of the job Congress is doing, a boon to GOP chances if Rouzer can tap into that anti-incumbent sentiment.

The poll of 400 likely voters was conducted by live telephone interview and was in the field July 22-23. It had a margin of error of 4.9 points.

Read the polling memo here:

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